1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an interactive videodisc training system with bar code access for use in combination with a workbook having a printed index of training material which is stored on a videodisc and more particularly to a bar code reading device which a microprocessor electrically couples to the controller of a videodisc player.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are presently a number of training systems which depend on automatic and semi-automatic storage and retrievel of information. These systems are widely used in industry, government, universities and schools, and are being increasingly used in the home. These systems share common problems in that access to the information is not straightforward, but must be accomplished through a unique indexing and accessing means. These systems also have indexes to stored information which are often comparable in volume to the stored information. As a result, the indexing and accessing means are often difficult to learn to use and hard to use following learning, typically involving sequential data entry procedures with keyboards and keypads which are time consumming and prone to error.
The videodisc is a particularly advantageous medium for information storage and retrieval. At present, each side of a standard videodisc can store up to 54,000 individual video frames. Each frame can contain a standard television picture, a combination of television picture and digital data or digital data alone. Through the use of a videodisc player frames on the videodisc can be accessed rapidly and displayed individually or sequentially (to produce motion sequences) on a standard video display apparatus, i.e. a television receiver or monitor. The videodiscs themselves are compact, inexpensive to replicate and relatively indestructable compared to other high-density, quick-access storage media.
Kent D. Broadbent, in his article, entitled "A Review of the MCA Disco-Vision System," published in the Journal of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers in the July 1974 issue, in Volume 83, pages 554-559, discusses frame number encoding of the information on a videodisc. Within each vertical interval a digitally coded digital word is placed and contains pseudorandom sync signals, parity check, a five decimal digit frame number and a field identification. The parity check and the pseudorandom sync signals are used to ensure that only valid data are used. A five digit display presents the number of the frame being viewed. When the search mode is initiated, logic compares the present frame number with the desired frame number. The leadscrew servo initiates a fast scan of the coded digital data until it passes the desired frame number at which time the videodisc player resumes normal real-time play until the desired frame is reached.
Mike Edelhart, in his article, entitled "Optical Discs: The Omnibus Medium," published in Technology in Volume 1 in the November-December, 1981 issue, on pages 42-57, discusses the use of a videodisc player in combination with a microprocessor to control access to each frame on a video disc.
Albert A. Jamberdino, in his article, entitled "High-Capacity High-Speed Recording," published in Optical Engineering in Volume 20, Number 3, in the May/June, 1981 issue, on pages 387-393, discusses a videodisc player including a disc drive and a controller into which a microprocessor is able to send a set of mode signals and address signals.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,009, entitled Image Storage and Display, issued to Reuban S. Mezrich, Alec Colleoni and David J. Lyons on Oct. 27, 1981, teaches a videodisc system which includes a video disc with images and their respectively associatedly timing marks which are arrayed as phototransparencies on the videodisc. When the disc drive videodisc player rotates the videodisc a sensing device senses the timing marks. The sensing device is electrically coupled to the controller of the videodisc player.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,004, entitled Method for Controlling Rotary Memory Device, issued to Yoshiaki Yamashita, Hiroyuki Kambara, Hiroaki Kambayashi and Yasuyuki Okada on July 14, 1981, teaches a method for controlling a rotary memory apparatus for storing at least one record including at least an address section identifying the record and a data section forming the data of the record.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,321,635 entitled Apparatus for Selective Retrieval of Information Streams or Items, issued to Hiroshi Tsuyuguchi on Mar. 23, 1982, teaches an apparatus for selectively retrieving a plurality of recorded information streams or items which includes an index listing the starting addresses of the information streams or items.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,247, entitled Hard Copy Reproduction from Video Disc Information, issued to Bruce G. Fike and Evan A. Edwards on Jan. 13, 1981, teaches a device for producing a print of information stored on a videodisc.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,820, entitled Random Access Storage Apparatus with a Movable Recording Medium, issued to Masatahi Ohtake, Takeshi Maeda and Morishi Izumita on Apr. 22, 1980, teaches a random access storage apparatus for use in a storage apparatus wherein signals are recorded on tracks which have addresses assigned in advance on a rotary recording medium such as an optical videodisc and which are randomly searched at high speed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,138,663, entitled Optical Reader for Information Discs Equipped with Means for Automatic Access to Information, issued to Jean Claude Lehureau and Pierre Ograsdi on Feb. 6, 1979, teaches an optical reader for information discs on which the items of information are locatable by addresses previously recorded on each of the grooves forming a track for counting the number of grooves traversed forming the track. The optical reader includes a device for counting the number of grooves traversed during search phases which simultaneously uses the envelope of the reading signal and the signal representing the radial error in the position of the head relative to the nearest track for algebraically counting the number of tracks traversed. After comparison with the number of grooves to be traversed, the counting device controls the deceleration of the radial advance when the spot is at a predetermined distance from the groove to be reached and also its stop page and the closure of the radial servo control loop when the groove is reached.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,322, entitled Microimage Registration System for Loading and/or Updating Microfiches in Microfilm Cassette Library, issued to Mikio Osaki, Hiroshi Kamada, Kohichi Kakimoto and Toshiaki Tabushi on Feb. 9, 1982, teaches a microimage registration system which loads and/or which updates microfiches in a microfilm cassette library.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,079, entitled Single Medium Audio-Visual Teaching Machine, issued to Loyd G. Dorsett on June 13, 1978, teaches an audio-visual teaching machine which includes a source record playback unit which provides a composite source output signal which corresponds to a source record which has audio, video control and source control portions. The audio-visual teaching machine also includes a video control unit which stores the video control signal of the composite source output signal and provides a composite video signal which corresponds to the stored video control portion for application to a video display unit. The audio-visual teaching machine further includes a source control unit which is responsive to the source control portion of the composite source output signal and which controls the operation of the video control unit, a source record playback unit and circuitry which applies the audio portion of the composite source output signal to an audio output unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,333,152, entitled TV Movies That Talk Back, issued to Robert M. Best on June 1, 1982, teaches a video system which presents a branching sound movie with which a human viewer interacts and which includes a video image generator which generates the picture elements of a first animated cartoon picture which is linked to a plurality of second animated cartoon pictures. The cartoon picture includes a talking face. A screen displays a plurality of messages. Each message corresponds to one of the plurality of second animated cartoon pictures thereof. A voice recognition unit which receives from a viewer a signal which corresponds to a selected message in the plurality of messages and a speech generator which electronically generates a voice signal including words in the selected message thereby simulating the viewer's side of a voice conversation. The video image generator generates picture elements of the second animated cartoon picture which corresponds to the selected message which is accompanied by a second voice signal which is responsive to the selected message and which thereby simulates a voice conversation between the viewer and the talking face in the animated cartoon movie.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,784,794, entitled Electro-optical Reader for Bar Codes or the Like, issued to David C. Allais on Jan. 8, 1974, teaches a bar-code, wand-type optical reader for entering bar code encoded data. Bar code is a technique of using printed media such as labels to store digital information wherein the information is typically represented by the width and the spaces between vertical bars printed black on a white background.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,151, entitled Method and Apparatus for Reducing the Number of Rejected Documents When Reading Bar Codes, issued to Mats A. Enser and Nils G. Stalberg on Dec. 16, 1980, teaches an apparatus for reading and decoding data encoded in terms of the spacing between the adjacent code bars on a document. The apparatus includes a reading element which produces an electrical pulse for each bar recorded on the document as the bar passes the reading element. A counter is used to measure the time between each two pulses and the resultant counts are stored in a memory in the order which the pulses were produced by the reading element. A microprocessor then compares this stored data with microcoded data which represents properly coded digits.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,086,476, entitled Control Circuit for a Code Reading Device, issued to Ronald J. King on Apr. 25, 1978, teaches an optical reader control system in which a detecting device is positioned upstream and downstream of an optical reader and generates the signals that control the operation of the optical reader in order to enforce the movement of a merchandise item past the optical reader within a predetermined path. A logic circuitry processes the signals of the detecting device in order to determine the occurence of a valid read operation by the optical reader.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,091,270, entitled Electronic Calculator with Optical Input Means, issued to Bernard E. Musch and Roy E. Martin on May 23, 1978, teaches a keyless electronic calculator which includes an optical bar code reader which enters bar-coded program information, in the form of data and individual commands, into the calculator. The calculator has a read-write memory unit which stores the entered information, a central processing unit which has a read-only memory unit with pre-stored routines for processing data by executing the entered commands or programs under control of the pre-stored routines, and a display unit for displaying the entered data and execution results. An alternative embodiment of the calculator includes both an optical input device and a keyboard. Programs, commands, and data values are printed in bar-code form on printed sheets. The user scans the appropriate data, commands and programs codes in order to enter the data and to enter and execute commands and programs.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,684, entitled Apparatus Using a Light Sensing System for Sensing Time Modulated Information from a Light Emitting Device, issued to George D. Monteath and Arthur H. Jones on May 11, 1982, teaches an electronic control and data transfer system for a television receiver which includes an electronic light emitting device and a modulator which selectively time modulates the light intensity at one or more selected regions of the light emitting device which may be a light pen. The electronic control and data transfer system also includes a manipulable electronic light sensor, which is selectively placed at a fixed position in front of one or more selected regions of the electronic light emitting device, and a detector, which is connected to the light sensor and which detects the time modulation in the sensor output to form a pulse train of time sequential code information which is identified with the time modulated light intensity of the selected region of the light emitting device.
When the light emitting device is a light pen it can be applied to selected portions of the screen of the television receiver. These selected portions are modulated at the field scan rate by data inputs such in successive television fields they are black or white in accordance with the values 1 or 0 of the bits of the data. The data can be used to pre-program the television receiver, or alternatively the data can be simply either stored or printed. The light pen can also be used to read bar codes in a broadcasting periodical. A low pass filter, a differentiator and an asymmetry detector sense whether the light pen output pulses have sharp or decaying trailing edges in order to distinguish whether the light pen is reading the cathode ray tube of the television receiver or a bar code. In an alternative arrangement the light pen can be used with a light emitting diode such as on either a radio receiver or a telephone.